Artist bio
Micaila Abboud is a Lebanese-Canadian ceramic artist based in Punamu'kwati'jk (Dartmouth), the traditional and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq, in what is now called Nova Scotia. Her work is shaped by a lifelong relationship with the Atlantic Ocean, having grown up along the province’s Eastern Shore. Surrounded by tidal pools and granite outcrops, she developed a deep connection to marine life and coastal environments, a connection that later evolved into a formal study of marine science.
Micaila holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in marine environmental sciences from Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her scientific training continues to inform her artistic practice, grounding it in ecological awareness while opening space for emotional and sensory exploration. Her academic journey deepened her understanding of the ocean, but it also stirred a desire to communicate what science could not: the emotional, almost sacred connection she felt to its depths.
Using a combination of wheel throwing and handbuilding with stoneware clay, she sculpts coral-inspired forms and coastal textures that blur the line between natural artifact and contemporary sculpture. Her pieces explore the tension between beauty and fragility, inviting viewers to reflect on the vulnerability of marine ecosystems and the urgent need to protect them.
Though clay transforms into something enduring once fired, its malleability and ability to record every touch, shift, and pressure mirrors the sensitivity of marine life to environmental change.
— Micaila Abboud
Artist Statement
My practice explores the intersection of material memory and ecological grief. Though clay transforms into something enduring once fired, its malleability and ability to record every touch, shift, and pressure mirrors the sensitivity of marine life to environmental change. It becomes a vessel for meditating on loss, adaptation, and the quiet collapse of ecosystems.
I am drawn to forms that persist and those that fade: coral skeletons, calcified shells, eroded rock, and the architectures of survival. These structures carry both warning and wonder. They hold stories of resilience while also speaking to a world in the midst of unraveling. My work is an invitation to notice, to feel, and to care more deeply for what lies beneath the surface.
